New photo exhibitions focus on UF freshmen, high school students

October 6, 2010

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — This fall, the Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida presents two photography exhibitions by Dawoud Bey, “Dawoud Bey: First-Year Florida Project” and “Class Pictures: Photographs by Dawoud Bey.”

On view through Jan. 2, the companion exhibitions depict youth at pivotal transitional periods in their lives. The “First-Year Florida Project,” commissioned by the Harn, features students at UF at the start of their first year of college. “Class Pictures” explores high school subjects who defy stereotypes of American youth during a complicated age. Portraits in both exhibitions are accompanied by brief texts written by the students about their hopes, dreams and fears.

“Dawoud Bey: First-Year Florida Project” features 17 newly commissioned photographs of 34 UF students in the “First-Year Florida” program — a special course for incoming freshmen that provides the necessary tools for survival on the large, diverse campus.

Over an intense two-week artist residency in July, Bey photographed pairs of UF First-Year Florida students. The exhibition is the artist’s first project focused on college-age youth. Though from diverse backgrounds with different interests, the students all are students at UF this fall. The museum will acquire 10 of the photographs for its permanent collection.

“Bey’s photography in this exhibition is a unique record of UF’s incoming students, yet the portraits also transcend the specifics of any school, and ideally will inspire all viewers, regardless of age or college affiliation to contemplate how we all experience critical transition points in our lives,” said curator of photography Tom Southall. “It’s exciting to support the creation of new works of art, but even more so with a commission that results in a selection of photographs for the permanent collection.”

For “Class Pictures: Photographs by Dawoud Bey.” the artist photographed young people from all parts of the economic, racial and ethnic spectrum in both public and private high schools in Detroit, Massachusetts, Orlando, San Francisco and New York City. Bey spent two to three weeks in each school resulting in 40 larger-than-life color portraits. The exhibition also features “Four Stories,” a 10-minute video. The projection displays intimate, close-up images of four Detroit students talking about their lives. The video complements and contrasts the more classically composed still photographs and gives a different perspective on Bey’s work and how we read and understand his young subjects.

Admission to the Harn Museum of Art is free. For more information call 352-392-9826 or visit www.harn.ufl.edu.

The museum is offering a number of related programs and ways to participate in the exhibition for audiences of all ages.

Those who wish to display their own portrait in the gallery with these exhibitions may visit the gallery’s photo station from 2 to 4 p.m. every Sunday through Jan. 2 or visit our Flickr site titled “Transitions” located at http://www.flickr.com/groups/harnmuseumofart/. Visitors are encouraged to submit a portrait and a written statement discussing their hopes, dreams and fears at a transitional point in their life. Submissions will be displayed through a monitor. This interactive display is the first time the Harn has offered a way for visitors to participate in an exhibition by displaying their own portraits.

Oct. 14
University of Florida students and the community will enjoy an interactive evening which includes creating electronic portraits for display in the galleries, performances and refreshments at Museum Nights from 6 to 9 p.m.

Oct. 24
For an in-depth look at both exhibitions, Tom Southall, curator of photography, will give a gallery talk at 3 p.m.

Nov. 14
Dawoud Bey will give a lecture at 3 p.m. titled “Connecting Communities with Art and Curatorial Practice. Bey will speak about his approach to portraiture in relation to other artists and discuss exhibitions he has organized of other artists and photographers exploring the theme of identity. Bey’s works are included in the collections of numerous museums, both here in America and in Europe, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Detroit Institute of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, National Portrait Gallery in London and the Whitney Museum of American Art.